1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, an image pickup method, and an image pickup program, and more particularly to an image pickup apparatus for picking up still images or moving images in accordance with user's instructions, and an image pickup method and an image pickup program executed in the image pickup apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image pickup devices, typically, video cameras, have a function of recording the picked-up moving image of a subject as well as a function of recording a still image. In recording still images with such a video camera, the user can set the image pickup conditions such as shutter speed and aperture and the recording conditions such as resolution. On the other hand, the image pickup conditions and the recording conditions in picking up moving images are predetermined or can be changed by the user only in a relatively narrower range than in picking up still images. Therefore, still images are superior in image quality. The conventional video cameras require input of an operation for instructing the video cameras which of a moving image and a still image is to be recorded. For this purpose, the conventional video camera has a button for giving an instruction to pick up a moving image and a button for giving an instruction to pick up a still image. Some cameras have a single button for giving an instruction to pick up an image, and pick up a still image or a moving image by switching between a moving image pickup mode and a still image pickup mode. There is also known a camera that records a still image when the shutter button is pressed for a time shorter than a predetermined time, and records a moving image when the shutter button is pressed for a longer time.
However, the user may often notice that he made an operating error after he inputs an operation of giving an instruction to pick up an image. For example, if the user intended to pick up a still image but erroneously makes an operation of picking up a moving image, the user misses the shot. In addition, the recorded moving images are inferior in image quality to still images, and therefore, moving images having the same image quality as still images cannot be obtained.